Oscar-winning actor and noted grumpypants Russell Crowe has chosen a biography of a comedian – albeit a dark, caustic one – for his directorial debut. Anger-fueled social satirist Bill Hicks was already a critics’ and comedy fans’ favorite when he died at the age of 32 from pancreatic cancer in 1994. Since then he’s become a legend and an object of endless speculation as to where he or his career would be today if he hadn’t been taken so young. Many feel he’d be far beyond like-minded contemporaries like Denis Leary and Lewis Black, even if he probably would have chosen a less commercial path than they did.

So what attracted Crowe to the project? Apparently he’s been interested for a while; the screenplay is by an old schoolmate of Crowe’s, Mark Staufer, and back in 2008 Crowe saw it when it was just a treatment and wanted to play Hicks in the eventual movie. No matter that he was already 44 at the time.

And there was plenty in Hicks’ short life to beguile the thespian in Crowe: A child raised a Southern Baptist in Texas who had never touched an illicit substance before the age of 21 and hoped to go to college to become a veterinarian discovers comedy and decides to experiment with multiple drugs, alcohol and his ultimate vice of non-choice, tobacco. Years of escalating success in the comedy world went hand-in-hand with wild drug and booze-prompted wildness until he allegedly quit it all, except his never-ending battle with nicotine.

Throw in a feud with former friend Leary after he accused the latter of stealing much of his act and a famously cut appearance onThe Late Show with David Letterman in 1993 over a religious joke. It was his twelfth and final time on any of Letterman’s shows, but his first time, back on Late Night with David Letterman in 1984, also featured a bit of editing due to Hicks violating one of NBC’s comedy taboos: No jokes about the “handicapped.”

Letterman later had Hicks’ mother on his show in 2009 to apologize and express his regret for the 1993 incident, play the excised routine in full – including the line about a returned Jesus’ aversion to crosses – and admit “there was absolutely nothing wrong with that.” Will all that make it into the movie, and how awkward will the chat be on Letterman when Crowe does the eventual publicity tour?

But another religious figure puts this all on the back burner for the time being. Crowe is currently busy ark-building in Iceland for Darren Aronofsky‘s Biblical epic, Noah, set for a 2014 release. And if he can play a 600-year-old flood survivor and animal savior, why not a stand-up comic in his 20s and 30s? Direct yourself, Russell. Just imagine the reports of dust-ups between the first-time director and his equally, well, identically matched leading man.

And if you still can’t picture Crowe as Hicks, take a look at these two images below. Come up with someone better, at least appearance-wise.

Bill Hicks

Russell Crowe

CJ Lais

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